Life Of Riley: Music Reviews

These Brit rockers truly sparkle on their first new studio offering in 6 years.
These guys have been around since the 80’s and I was pleasantly surprised by how fresh their new set is. Sparkle offers a little something for everyone, from the modern-metal flavoured opening track “Go” to the earthy “Nine Lives”. Incidentally Nine Lives is a duet with country supremo Tim McGraw. “C’mon C’mon” reminds me of early Leppard. (Remember the fantastic Hysteria and Pyromania sets.) “Love” is the big ballad – growing from simple acoustic guitar through to some massive and luxurious multi-part vocal harmony and grand orchestration – Queen meets Chemical Romance? “Hallucinate” is also reminiscent of 80’s Leppard.

This is a cool album. It takes a couple spins to get into the groove, and it has some good songs and ideas. Joe Elliot’s vocals reach way back to the Pyromania era while Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen’s guitar tones are on the button – with some slick lead breaks and chunky riffs. I recommend it – especially if you loved Def Leppard in the 80’s.

Looks like Simple Plan are here to stay.
Their new release establishes them as one of the most consistent acts on the music scene today. It also appears that they’ve finally dumped the ‘punk’ from their punk-rock tag. Simple Plan are now mainstream American rockers. And if their aim is to get you bopping and tapping your feet, they certainly got the recipe right. The music is still simple yet effective. For the first time they use keyboard bleeps and drum-machine beats, which I’m not sure are entirely necessary – sounding like a bit of an afterthought.

The songs are solid, simple and straightforward with huge choruses and few frills with "Hold On" and "When I'm Gone," both moving toward the pure the rock rather than punk. There are definitively decent songs on the album with the seize-the-day style anthem: "When I'm Gone" being one worth mentioning. I liked this Simple Plan, and so do the kids.

This is a seriously intense album by the legend. It is at times uncomfortable and depressing with Diamond writing every thought right from his broken heart. The music is beautiful and also passionate, with all emphasis being on the acoustic guitar. The instrumentation is brilliant and professional – a fantastic example for any young guitar player. The lyrics are dark and moody. "If I Don't See You Again" is the breakup song of the year without being repetitive and boring. “Pretty Amazing Grace” was the first single from the album and is a soulful, hopeful and catchy tune - an inspirational love song. "Forgotten" is upbeat and light… for a while, but also turns out to be a cry for help.

Even though Home Before Dark is a study in introspection (the detailed mental examination of your own feelings, thoughts and motives), it is on the whole a marvellous collection of songs and makes for really pleasant hour – as long as you don’t listen to the lyrics too closely.

Glam metal returns!
Motley Crue are back with their best album since Dr Feelgood in ’89 and it sure packs a punch. The album kicks off with “Face Down In The Dirt” – with little or no messing around. A few bars of rumbling bass and then it’s pedal to the metal. This is power metal infused with a good dose of pop and it’s a whole lotta fun. Make no mistake, there is still that hard metal edge, but with lyrics and vocals that are hugely appealing – or maybe it’s just so familiar?

The title track is very Feelgood-esque and Vince Neil’s vocals scream with pseudo religious verve: “It doesn’t matter what you think, we’re gonna do it anyway, we are the Saints, one day you will confess, and pray to the Saints of Los Angeles”. Mick Mars’ guitar gymnastics and whammy bar effects also remind one of the Feelgood era.

Other great industrial-style rockers include the chaotic ”Just Another Psycho”, ”Welcome To The Machine” and ”The Animal In Me”. Nikki Sixx penned ”Just Another Psycho” and recounts (through Neil’s vocals) his struggles with drug-induced lunacy: “they opened up the door to my insanity / they should have slammed it shut right there and thrown away the key.”

The quality of the musicianship is excellent; the not-so-young-anymore boys are musically fit. I love Tommy Lee’s drum work – he’s a busy man right though the album underpinning all the tracks with very solid rhythms and spectacular riffs. Vince Neil is also in fine form and sounding as good as he did in the excessive 80’s.

If you remember the first time you heard Queens’ Night at the Opera and it blew your teenage socks off – well this is then a must for you! This 2006 offering from MCR blasts off with “The End” guitars screaming like Eddie van Halen on steroids to get us in the groove. “Dead” is reminiscent of Queen’s late 70’s fast paced orchestration. The first single, “Welcome to the Black Parade is orchestrated gothic, tiptoeing in with eerie piano and vocals. It isn’t long however before the turbocharged hard core rock riffs kick in to drive you through to the end of this 3 minute opera.

The rest of the album is filled with light and shade (and darkness) moving from fast passed rockers into some great mid tempo stuff. These boys (and they are young) have certainly got some of that great 70s glam in their DNA. But this isn’t the seventies; the music and lyrics are new millennium all the way. In my opinion, this will become one of those “must have in your collection albums”.
It is one of the best in the last 40 years.

“Hey there Delilah” – the first track on the South African pressing of this Chicago outfit’s 2006 album is a worldwide smash hit. Why it’s such a big hit is anyones guess, since it’s a pleasant camp-fire ballad with some nice vocals and a well orchestrated acoustic guitar for backing. (Maybe the use of a real instrument and lack of computer generated padding has something to do with it.) Anyhow, the ladies love the song and the rest of the album is jam packed with some great melodic pop-punk tunes along with one or two average ballads.

The strength of this band lies in their ability to produce some powerful and up tempo pop-punk. (In the old days we called this rock n roll!) The vocals are melodic and it rocks, the songs are mostly about women – good and bad, and overall, it’s a really enjoyable listen.